Senses Working Overtime: XTC and Dukes of Stratosphear Song-by-song

Instant Tunes

This is barely a song. There’s no melody, and it makes me never want to hear the word “instant” again.

1.5/5

 

Oh. I think it's great - for 78. Colin was starting out and you can recognise his style, there are for me at least two tunes in there, and note the guitar arpeggio which shows that Andy could play before they got Dave G in. Another nice track on Beeswax. 3/5

 

Instant Tunes
Not a very good Colin tune and one I don't play very often. Sounds like it was written in an instant. 2.0

 

Instant Tunes:
There’s a couple of instrumental passages here and there that really elevate this for me, when the ska rhythm suddenly turns into a more Power-Pop attack. It’s mixed perfectly, with the keyboards receding a little bit. For a trifle, there’s a lot of musical ideas jockeying for space here, and it’s very interesting to hear them working out how to try and fit it all together. They’ll get there, soon. 3/5

 

"Instant Tunes" -- 2/5

Fair but forgettable b-side fodder. Not one of Colin's better efforts, though I'd still take it over one or two of his songs on White Music.

 

"Instant Tunes" is another nice, welcome non-LP flip side; from the first XTC import 45 I purchased. 2.5/5

 

Traffic Light Rock: not bad at all, but also not very notable beyond the punchy and quick chorus. I like the live at eric's version on Coat box. 3/5

Instant Tunes: I like it a thousand more times than Heatwave (in XTC years), but still it just misses the mark for me. My favorite moment of this song is the final bit of wordless vocal CM does, cool melody. The band sounds good, he's getting there. 2/5

 

Instant Tunes

I wasn't familiar with this track before today, and was thinking that it sounded a bit like a Colin track. It's a reasonable song with a reasonable hook, but again I think they made the right decision to leave this as a b-side. Though, I much prefer this to Cross Wires. I like the guitars on this - I think they suit the song perfectly. Just need a slightly better song to match then.

3/5

 

Tunes -- another 2/5 song. Another forgettable track when it comes down to it.

 

Instant Tunes - Good musical variation between the quirky new wave styling of the verses and the power pop drive of the chorus. I like it a lot. 4/5

 

Instant Tunes:

The beginning has indeed a Madness vibe, but Madness would not release its first single more than a year later. "Instant Tunes" is another thoroughly enjoyable early Colin track!

 

"Instant Tunes" - There's at least three ideas here that aren't quite coming together, but I still like it. Nice arpeggios from Andy in the chorus. 3/5

I'd always associated this with Go 2 since it was the b-side to Are You Receiving Me? and was in that slot on Beeswax. Is this the last of the White Music b-sides/outtakes?

 

No, three more.

• Let's Have Fun [Moulding] {outtake, released on Coat of Many Cubboards, 2002}
• Fireball XL5/Fireball Dub (Barry Gray) {outtake, released on Coat of Many Cubboards, 2002}
• Commerciality (Signal Ad) (Partridge) {remix of unreleased "Refrigeration Blues", released on Take Away/The Lure of Salvage, 1980}

 

Instant Tunes: Love it! I would have to say that this and Heatwave are Colin's first two really good songs IMO. 4.5/5

 

It's funny that I can't get into "Instant Tunes" at all because I love Madness and their ilk. This just doesn't quite work for me in any way that I can really connect with. I don't hate it, but I should like it more than I do.

3/5

 

Do yourself a favor:
XTC Chronology 1966-1999 book (2011)

And here:
xtclimelight.com

 

Not to take too huge of a diversion (DMs are fine), but which is the one good XTC biography? Looking for something that is fairly objective and covers the whole career. I think I know the whole story, but it would be interesting to read it front to end. Lewisohn quality would be nice, but I'm not sure if that exists for XTC.

Instant Tunes. 1/5

 

The only bio I've read is Chalkhills and Children by Chris Twomey. It's not very deep or critical, but he did interview Andy, Colin, and Dave, and it gives you a good overview up to Nonsuch. (It doesn't seem like he interviewed Terry, Barry, and lots of other people.) Neville Farmer's book Song Stories is also based on interviews with Andy, Colin, and Dave, and gives their thoughts on all or almost all of the released songs through the beginning of the Apple Venus project, and it has some biographical information along with it. I haven't read it, but I gather Todd Bernhardt's book Complicated Game is similar to Farmer's book but goes more in depth on 30 selected songs, but only speaking with Andy. If I had to pick one, I'd go with Song Stories, as it's more entertaining that Chalkhills.

Given their level of notoriety and sales, and the prickliness of certain personalities, I don't think it's likely we'll ever see an in-depth, rounded biography of the band. It would take too much time and money, and possible grief, for that to be worthwhile. But then I thought that about the Replacements, and Bob Mehr persuaded almost all of the band members and key figures to open up and produced a tremendous book in Trouble Boys.

 

Instant Tunes. Decently catchy song, I like it. The whiny vocals at the end are hilariously "new wave".

 

The verses of "Instant Tunes" are Two-Tone before Two-Tone. Not sure how much Two-Tone a person needs.

The power-pop chorus, musically at least, almost foreshadows Hüsker Dü. Of course, it's another single-liner, repeated to fill the space, which perhaps unfairly costs the song in my rating.

2.5/5

 

Believe there was some live tracks and some things brought back from the past. Remember, some of those Beatles and
Doors films were made way after the fact. Those Doors videos are very nice, and now I have them on DVD and Blu-ray.
I love that Ray kept making films until he died. Don't think we'll get anymore now that he's gone. He was the real film
man in the group if you ask me.

By the time David invented Buster Poindexter he had plenty of MTV clips, movies and such. More popular than the New
York Dolls during their time?

 

I like it about enough for a 2.5/5 bumped up to 3/5 for the math. Sounds like Colin is singing to my ears.

Don't have time to investigate... football play-offs have already begun today. Football for the next three days.

 

Yes!

 

'Istant Tunes' is another hidden early gem, 4/5.

I threw on the White Music CD with the bonuses in the middle for the first time in decades today. One thing that stood out immediately was Colin's Brian Wilsonesque "whoops" throughout most of the tracks. No matter how hard they tried to be in the moment punks and new wavers, their roots and influences were always there to betray them a little bit

 

Not everything old was bad.